Record for talking-machines.



E. R. JOHNSON.

RECORD FOR TALKING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 30, 1904.

LU16,271 Patented Feb. 6, 1912.

// V I? V my ZM ZW UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELDRIDGE R. JOHNSON, OF MERION, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T VICTOR TALKING MACHINE COMPANY, CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

nncom) ron rAtKme-MAcHINEs.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed August 30, 1904. Serial No. 222,686.

Patented Feb. 6, 1912.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELDRIDGE R. JOHNSON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Merion, county of Montgomery,

State of Pennsylvania, have invented certam new and useful Improvements in Records for Talking Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and complete disclosure of one form of my invention.

Heretofore in the manufacture of flat disk records for talking machines it has been the practice to stamp out. the record disks from a suitable material by means of a die confirm under normal conditions of temperature. The material usually employed for making these records has been in the form of fiat sheets which have been of uniform thickness throughout the entire extent of the disk with the possible exception of. the central portion Where the label has'been impressed or countersunk into the material during the pressing or forming of the record. This material, in many instances, has been the substance called duranoid which consists of shellac and certain other coloring pigments and strengthening ingredients. Other similar materials which have been used are hard rubber and celluloid. It will be realized that these compositions are expensive when used in large quantities, especially in view of the fact that talking machine records now employed in this art have been steadily increasing in size.

The object, therefore, of my invention is to produce a record which may have all the advantages of a flat disk record of uniform thickness but which will at the same time be much lighter and, therefore, less expensive in original cost and also will be easier to handle and.less expensive in transportation either by mail, freight, or express.

A further object of my invention is the production of a record which will have strengthening means applied in snea s manner as to give a stiff and firm bacl'ring for the reproducing surface without the necessity of employing the larger amount of ma- -terial required in a disk record made entirely of duranoid or other similar substance.

Br1efiy, my invention comprises a disk record having upon itsunder side a metallic plate or hacking made in different forms so as to retain the record material firmly in position and at the same time, to protect the record material from injury to which it would otherwise be liable owing to its reduced thickness. The metallic backing may also extend across the central portion of the record not occupied-by.- .tbe record grooves and may form a centering means for the record when placed upon the turntable. The central portion of the record may also be occupied by an independent disk of metal or other material which forms thrcentering means and which is fixed in position during the stamping or forming process.

- For a full, clear and exact description of these forms of my invention reference may be had to the specification and to the accompanying drawings forming part thereof in which Figure 1 is a reverse plan view of a talk-' ing machine record having the strengthening plate applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the form of record shown in Fig. l and Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view of a modification showing the centering disk placed in position independently of the metallic backing.

Referring to the drawing the numeral 1 indicates a circular metallic plate having an outer flange 2, an inner flange 3, and a central portion 4, the greater part of the central portion being countersunk as indicated at- 5 to form a seat or recess for the record label 5. The annular portion of the plate 1 is provided with a series of holes or perforations 6 which are adapted to receive portions of the record material 7, which is included between the flanges 2 and 3 and thereby hold the same in position within the recess formed by said flanges. The record material 7 is placed in the annular trough or re ce'ss formed by the flanges 2 and 3 in any suitable manner but I prefer to place the same therein during the process of stamping or impressing the record grooves in said material so that part of the record containing the record grooves may be formed at a single operation.

I In the modification shown in Fig. 3 the function and result obtained are-similar to those of the modification above described but instead of having the backing acontinuous plate the samecons1sts of an annular plate 8 havingitransverse flanges 9 and 10 at its edgesz In this formthe record material 11 v is molded about the annular plate 8 so as to form outer andinner flanges 12 and 13. The

flange 13 is also formed with an-upper circular rib or flange 14 against which the disk 7 15 forming the means forcentering thedisk is seated.

The annular plate is also preferably pro-- vided with the holes or perforations 16 for I more'intimately unitingthe record material 11' with its backing. t

The materials used in the backing for-this form of; record may be any stiff, durable substances in theform of a plate or may be stamped or molded int-o the required form,

- such metals as sheet iron or steel, brass, tin

or aluminium .being especially adaptablefor this purpose. v The-material which formsthe surface for receiving the record grooves may be thematerial usually employed, provided it can be molded about the backing and provided it also may receive the record grooves during the, operation of forming. or stamping the record. I

' I do not wish to-be limited to theexact form and arrangement of the parts shown and described herein, for the same may be varied in many-ways without departing 1 from the spirit and scope of my invention,

but 4 What I claim and desire to protect by Letters-P'atent oft-he. United States, is.:-

. 1-.- A record for a sound recordingand reproducingmachine comprising a' sheet metal disk having two concentric depressions,

the one being annular in shape located adj a.-

"cent the perlphery, and the other occupying the central portion of the disk and having a flat inner surface provided with a central aperture, and record material secured within said annular depressiom thesaid disk having the part thereof between the said concentric portions formed into a ring substantially rectangular in cross section, having its outer face substantially flush with the surface of therecord material, said ring being open upon one side.

2. A record for a sound recording and reproducing machine, comprising a sheet metal disk having an annular depression 10- metal disk having an annular depression 10- cated adjacent to the periphery of the same, and record material secured within said annulardepression, said disk havin the part thereof adjacent to the inner si e of said depression formed into a I'll) substantlally rectangular in cross section and open on one slde.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 29th day of August, A. D.,

ELDRI DGE R. JOHNSON, .Witnesses: i

WILLIAM B. BREMAN, -Ei w. W. VAILL, Jr. 

